Landslide Monitoring and Hazard Assessment in the Ashland Creek Watershed

Shane Stiles
Melody Thueson

In the past 40 years there have been some very significant landslides that have occurred in the Ashland Creek Watershed. Data has been collected in the 1970's and 1990's that has attempted to monitor the stability of these landslides. The previous methods used to track the slides are no longer applicable, and there has been little follow-up since the mid-1990's. Re-establishing monitoring efforts in the watershed by using GPS tracking and photographs will allow for accurate mapping and potential for future monitoring. The project will detail the soil type, vegetation, slope, and aspect for a handful of slides in the Natural Research Area of the Ashland Creek Watershed. A hazard index map will also be done for potentially hazardous areas in the rest of the watershed that are more prone to slope instability. Efforts to monitor slides in the Natural Research Area is important because of its close location to Reeder Reservoir, the main water supply for Ashland, Oregon.